LOS ANGELES — The percentage of omicron subvariant BA.2 cases is rising in Los Angeles County, a trend seen elsewhere nationwide as officials sound the alarm about Congress’s failure to provide critical funding for vaccinations, tests and anti-COVID-19 drugs.
Officials in L.A. County and nationally have warned about the risk to public health if new pandemic federal funding fails to be approved. There is no money left to reimburse doctors for COVID-19 care for uninsured Americans, and funds will soon run out to provide vaccinations, Xavier Becerra, the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, said this week.
According to data released Thursday, 14.7% of coronavirus samples analyzed for L.A. County between Feb. 27 and March 5 were the highly contagious BA.2 subvariant. That’s more than double the previous week’s figure of 6.4%.
